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€^t  i^atl]  of  a  ^otlj^r: 


J^  DISCOURSE    • 


DELIVERED  IN   TUB 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH, 


CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS, 


SABBATH,    ^TJGS-TJST    S,   ISST. 


By  WILLIAM  AV.  PATTON. 


CHICAGO: 

STEAM    PRESSES  OP   SCRIPPS,    BROSS    &   SPEARS,    45    CLARK   STREET. 

1857. 


PUBLISHED    BY     REQUEST, 


THE  DEATH   OF  A  MOTHER. 


Psalm  xxxv.  14. 
"I  bowed  down  lieavily,  as  one  that  mourneth  for  liis  mother." 

There  is  no  sound  in  tlie  English  language,  if  we 
except  that  which  expresses  the  name  of  our  Savior, 
which  falls  upon  the  ear  ^vith  so  sweet  and  touching  a 
cadence  as  the  word  Mother.  From  the  earliest 
hours  of  dependent  and  affectionate  childhood  to  the 
last  moment.^  of  expiring  age,  it  is,  of  all  words  Avhicli 
relate  to  earth,  the  most  precious,  retaining  its  charm 
through  every  change  of  life,  and  breathing  music  into 
the  verj  ear  of  death.  The  face  upon  which  our  eyes 
first  learned  to  look  with  love  in  this  world,  remains 
fixed  in  memory — as  it  were  daguerreotyped  on  the 
heart — until  the  pulse  ceases  to  beat  and  we  j)ass  to 
a  world  where  the  relationships  of  time  merge  in  those 
of  eternitv. 

Tliis  feeling  of  interest  and  afJ'ectiou  is  the  result  of 
a  divine  constitution.  God  ordained  tliat  every  hu- 
man being,  subsequent  to  the  first  created  pair,  should 
liave  a  mother.  Not  even  "-the  man  Christ  Jesus" 
was  exempt  from  this  law  of  ontj-anco  into  mortal  life. 


THE    DEATH    OF    A    MOTHER. 


Tliougli  lie  acknowledged  no  father  but  God,  lie  was 
tlie  son  of  a  virgin,  and  learned  in  cliildliood  to  lisp 
the  precious  name  of  mother!  Tliis  divine  arrange- 
ment was  intended  to  secure  numerous  and  important 
ends,  through  the  mutual  love  of  mother  and  child. 
It  is,  therefore,  an  interesting  study  to  inquire  into  the 
facts  connected  with  this  phase  of  the  family. 

First,   then,  I   remark,  that  the   relation   of   a 

MOTHER    TO    A    CHILD    IS    PECULIAR.       It    is    hascd    UpOll 

the  physical  fact  of  birth.  Tlie  child  derives  its  being 
from  its  mother,  and  is  emphatically  "bone  of  her 
bone  and  flesh  of  her  flesh."  She  has  borne  the  child 
with  all  that  special  suffering  which,  in  every  language 
under  heaven,  has  been  made  the  flgure  of  the  most 
intense  agony.  At  the  risk,  and  sometimes  at  the  ex- 
pense, of  the  mother's  life,  does  every  child  enter  the 
world.  This  constitutes  a  link  between  the  two,  such 
as  binds  in  no  other  relation.  Tliere  can  be  no  ap- 
proximation of  any  other  person,  in  the  eyes  of  a 
mother,  to  her  own  child.  Tliere  can  be  no  substitute, 
on  the  other  hand,  in  the  eyes  of  a  child,  for  a  mother. 
Tliey  are  peculiarly  one,  as  trunk  and  branch  are  one, 
as  the  sun  and  its  light  are  one.  Tlie  mother  never 
forgets  that  her  children  are  her  oflspring,  with  her 
blood  in  their  veins,  her  life  in  their  heart. 

Then   follows   the    fact   of    early,   protracted,   self- 
denying  and  all-embracing  rare.     Tlie  new  l)orn  babe, 


THE    DEATH    OF    A    MOTHER. 


utterly  helpless,  is  cast  upon  the  care  of  the  mother,  - 
who  from  that  moment  assumes  a  responsibility  which 
only  maternal  love  could  sustain,  and  enters  upon  long 
years  of  labor  and  sacrifice.     By  day  and  by  night,  in 
health  and  in  illness,  without  intermission  save  in  an 
anxious   sleep  which  the  slightest  disturbance  ends, 
does  the  mother  wait  uj^on  the  wants  of  her  little  one. 
To  guard  it  from  harm  and  to  promote  its  happiness, 
is  the  one  thought  ever  present  in  her  mind,  con- 
sciously cherished  during  the  greater  portion  of  the 
time,  and  abiding  in  the  depths  of  her  heart  even 
when,  for  brief  periods,  she  is  drawn  to  other  duties. 
JS'o  person  but  herself  sustains  this  relation  of  perpet- 
ual care,  to  ward  off  actual  aiid  possible  harm,  to  sup- 
ply every  bodily  want,  to   minister   comfort   in   the 
many  but  brief  griefs  of  childhood,  and  to  be  a  con- 
tinual sunshine  around  the  young  plant.    God  thought 
of  this  maternal  symi^athy,  when  he  said  lovingly  to 
his  people,  "Then  shall  ye  suck,  ye  shall  be  borne 
upon  her  sides,  and  be  dandled  upon  her  knees ;  as 
one  whom  his  mother  comforteth,  so  will  I  comfort 
you."    And  the  Bible  also  presents  a  very  natural  and 
affecting  illustration  in  the  case  of  the  little  son  of  the 
Shunammite   woman,    wlio,   being  taken   ill,   as    he 
watclied    the    reapers,    cried    out,    "My    head!    my 
head;"  upon  which  the  father  said,  "Carry  him  to 
his  mother;"  and  we  read  that  "he  sat  on  her  knees 


6  THE    DEATH    OF    A    MOTH]i:R. 


till  noon,  and  then  died."  Yes,  it  is  tlie  mother  whose 
all-embracing  care  is  at  hand  in  every  emergency,  and 
who  may  be  said  to  live  for  her  child. 

Tlien  we  nmst  add  the  fact,  that  to  tha  mother  is 
committed  the  earliest  and  most  important  instruction 
and  training  of  the  child.  It  is  she  who  has  nnder 
sole  charge  the  tender  mind  in  its  most  susceptible 
stage,  w^hen  the  deepest  impressions  are  made  ot 
thought  and  feehng,  and  the  first  directions  are  given 
to  the  will.  Solomon,  even  from  the  throne,  looked 
back  to  the  instruction  which  he  had  received  from 
his  mother;  for  in  the  book  of  Proverbs  we  find  such 
sentences  as  these  frequently  recurring:  ''My  son,  for- 
sake not  the  law  of  thy  mother;"  "I  was  tender  and 
only  beloved  in  the  sight  of  my  mother;"  "Tlie  words 
of  King  Lemuel,  the  prophecy  that  his  mother  taught 
him."  And  so  every  man,  who  has  been  blessed  w^ith 
a  faithful  and  pious  mother,  will  remember  that  his 
earliest  lessons  were  learned  in  his  mother's  lap,  and 
that  from  her  lips'  and  kneeling  by  her  side,  he  was 
taught  to  pronounce  the  name  of  God  and  to  articulate 
the  words  of  prayer.  'No  other  person  has  that  full 
authority,  deep  interest,  constant  access  and  perpetual 
presence,  which  make  a  mother's  instructions  the  very 
atmosphere  in  which  the  child  moves  and  breathes. 
Tlie  infantile  years  of  life,  which  are,  beyond  doubt, 
the  forming  period  of  character,  are  placed  at  her  sole 


THE    DEATH    OF    A    IMUTUEK. 


disposal,  so  tliat  in  no  untrue  sense  she  may  be  said  to 
be  tlie  mother  of  the  child  in  soul  and  body  alike. 
Secondly,  we  should  notice  the  fact,  that  fkom  this 

PECULIAR  RELATION  RESULTS  AN  ANSWERING  MUTUAL 
LOVE     BETWEEN     THE     MOTHER     AND     THE     CHILD.       TlllS 

love  is,  on  both  sides,  partly  blind  and  instinctive,  and 
partly  intelligent  and  cultivated.  God  has  implanted, 
even  in  brutes,  a  strong  affection  for  their  offspring,  at 
least  during  the  period  in  which  the  latter  need  pro- 
tection. Tlie  human  mother  has  this  passion  devel- 
oped permanently  in  its  highest  form.  Tlie  first  sight 
of  her  new  born  babe  is  attended  with  a  gush  of  feel- 
ing such  as  she  has  never  before  experienced,  and 
from  that  moment  a  fountain  of  deep  and  tender  emo- 
tion is  opened,  which  never  ceases  to  flow  while  life 
continues,  for  it  is  increased  by  all  the  contact,  labor 
and  self-denial  of  subsequent  years,  with  their  results 
of  good  in  the  child.  Indeed,  this  becomes  the  master 
passion  of  her  nature,  and  for  the  defence  and  happi- 
ness of  her  children,  she  will  sacrifice  every  personal 
blessing  which  earth  can  afford.  Hence  God  himself 
appeals  to  this  all-engrossing  and  imperishable  love,  as 
an  illustration  of  his  love  for  Zion,  in  the  well  known 
passage  commencing  with  the  words,  ''  Can  a  woman 
forget  her  sucking  child,  that  she  should  not  have 
compassion  on  the  son  of  her  womb  ?"  Tlie  use,  also, 
which  Solomon  made  of  maternal  love  in  deciding  to 


8  THE    DEATH    OF    A    MOTHEK. 

wliom  a  disputed  child  belonged,  will  occur  at  once  to 
every  mind. 

The  instinctive  love  of  the  lower  animals  for  their 
offspring  ceases  when  the  latter  have  arrived  at  matu- 
^•ity.  The  lioness  cares  not  for  her  cub  when  it  has 
become  a  full  grown  lion.  Tlie  female  bird,  that  will 
try  every  possible  art  and  display  the  most  sm^Drising 
com'age  to  conceal  and  protect  her  brood,  deserts  them 
w^hen  they  can  provide  for  themselves.  j^Jot  so  does 
maternal  love  expire  in  the  human  breast.  A  mother's 
eye  never  loses  sight  of  a  child  when  manhood  or  wo- 
manhood is  reached  ;  a  mother's  heart  never  ceases  to 
rejoice  m  the  prosperity  and  to  sorrow  in  the  afflic- 
tions of  her  children.  Let  the  man  of  middle  age 
come  to  honor,  and  it  may  be  said  to  him  then,  as 
truly  as  in  the  days  of  liis  childhood,  in  the  language 
of  Solomon,  "Tliy  father  and  thy  mother  shall  be  glad, 
and  she  that  bore  thee  shall  rejoice."  Let  him  fall 
into  sin  and  dishonor,  and  the  bowed  head  of  his  gray- 
haired  mother  will  proclaim  how  intensely  she  feels  it, 
who  a  half  century  before  gave  birth  to  him  in  min- 
gled joy  and  agony ;  for  as  the  wise  man  observed, 
"A  foolish  son  is  the  heaviness  of  his  mother" — "a 
grief  to  his  father  and  bitterness  to  her  that  bore  him." 

"  Sweet  is  the  image  of  the  brooding  dove ! 
Holy  as  heaven,  a  mother's  tender  love  — 
The  love  of  many  prayers  and  many  tears, 
Which  changes  not  with  dim,  declining  years." 


THE   DEATH    OF   A    MOTHER.  9 

And  tliis  afFection  is  returned,  thongli  in  a  weaker 
degree,  by  tlie  child.  Tlie  first  and  strongest  affection 
of  our  nature  is  given  to  our  motlier,  whose  loving 
face  hangs  over  our  infancy,  and  to  whose  arms  we 
leap  with  joy  from  all  other  embrace.  This  natural 
clinging  to  the  mother  does  indeed,  in  a  few  years,  be- 
come less  close,  especially  with  boys,  and  during  youth 
there  is  often  an  abatement  of  filial  afiection,  particu- 
larly in  cases  where  restraint  is  unw^elcome.  But  as 
soon  as  reason  regains  her  sway,  parental  claims  are 
more  respected  than  ever,  and  the  word  mothek  thrills 
on  the  ear  with  more  than  wonted  power.  Every 
noble  nature  is  highly  susceptible  of  this  filial  regard, 
and  we  instinctively  honor  the  young  man  wdiose 
attention  is  lavished  upon  his  mother,  and  to  whom 
her  word  is  law  now  as  in  younger  days.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  touching  traits  in  our  Savior's  character,  that 
eminent  as  was  his  station,  many  and  sorrowful  his 
trials,  he  was  ever  thoughtful  of  her  who,  in  virgin 
purity,  bore  him  ;  so  that  in  the  hour  of  his  agony,  as 
he  hung  upon  the  cross,  at  whose  foot  stood  the  w^eep- 
ing  Mary,  he  tenderly  committed  her  to  the  protection 
of  the  beloved  disciple,  saying  to  her,  "liehold  thy 
son!"  and  to  John,  ''Behold  thy  mother!"  And  who 
does  not  admire  the  respect  with  which  Solomon,  at 
the  time  the  most  illustrious  and  powerful  sovereign 
in  the  world,  treated  his  mother,  when  she  came  be- 
1-^ 


10  THE   DEATH    OF   A   MOTHER. 

fore  liis  throne  to  make  a  request?  "And  the  kmg 
rose  up  to  meet  her  and  bowed  himself  unto  her  and 
sat  down  on  his  throne  and  caused  a  seat  to  be  set  for 
the  king's  mother;  and  she  sat  on  his  right  hand." 
Who  does  not  detect  the  swelling  of  filial  love  in  the 
royal  heart,  as  in  persuasive  tones  he  encourages  her 
to  speak,  saying,  "Ask  on,  my  mother;  for  I  will  not 
say  thee  nay?"  And  if  we  turn  to  the  delightful 
verses  of  Cowper — all  of  which  deserve  to  become 
"household  words,"  so  replete  are  they  with  purity  of 
imagination  and  refinement  of  feeling,  and  so  full  of 
domestic  pictures — which  of  them  strikes  a  more  re- 
sponsive chord,  than  those  lines  upon  the  recej)tion  of 
his  departed  mother's  portrait,  which  the  coldest  tem- 
perament can  scarce  peruse  without  tears?  How  his 
grateful  memory  ran  back  over  the  scenes  of  child- 
hood, as  he  spake  of  the  home  that  was  for  a  brief 
time  their  own. 

"Short-lived  possession!  but  the  record  fair 
That  memory  keeps  of  all  thy  kindness  there, 
Still  outlives  many  a  storm  that  has  effaced 
A  thousand  other  themes  less  deeply  traced. 
Thy  nightly  visits  to  my  chamber  made, 
That  thou  mightst  know  me  safe  and  warmly  laid; 
Thy  morning  bounties  ere  I  left  my  home, 
The  biscuit  or  confectionery  plumb ; 
The  fragrant  waters  on  my  cheeks  bestowed 
By  thine  own  hand,  till  fresh  they  shone  and  glowed ; 


THE    DEATH    OF    A    M0THP:R.  11 

All  this,  still  legible  in  memory's  page, 

And  still  to  be  so  to  my  latest  age, 

Adds  joy  to  duty,  makes  me  glad  to  pay 

Such  honors  to  thee  as  my  numbers  may ; 

Perhaps  a  frail  memorial,  but  sincere, 

Not  scorned  in  heaven,  though  little  noticed  here." 

It  is  only  tlie  most  hardened  and  debased  heart,  if 
any,  that  extinguishes  this  love  for  a  mother.  Long 
years  of  crime  cannot  efface  the  remembrance  of  the 
sweet  voice  which  spake  of  God,  and  truth,  and  right, 
in  the  ear  of  childhood.  You  may  go  into  the  largest 
prison,  and"  select  the  most  desperate  character  within 
its  cells  of  guilt  and  shame — the  wretch  who  has  mur- 
dered his  fellow-man  and  blasi3hemed  his  God,  and 
who  meets  all  accusations  and  reproaches  with  stern 
defiance  and  brazen  scorn — and  you  shall  take  his 
hand  and  talk  with  him  of  his  boyhood  and  early 
home,  and  ask  him  whether  he  remembers  his  mother, 
and  the  deep-drawn  sigh,  followed  by  the  trickling 
tear,  will  convince  you,  that  in  that  callous  soul  one 
tender  spot  remains,  in  which  lies  buried  the  memory 
of  a  mother's  love.  And  how  often  has  this  single 
and  last  cord  sufficed  to  draw  the  victim  of  sin  back 
to  \dii:ue,  as  he  has  been  led  to  hope  that  he  might  yet 
become  what  his  mother  had  thought  to  see  him,  or  at 
least  might  be  prepared  to  meet  her  in  a  world  of 
purity  above.  How  often  the  first  step  in  vice  and 
crime  has  been  arrested,  when  just  about  to  be  taken, 


12  THE    DEATH    OF   A   MOTHEK. 

by  the  sudden  recollection  of  a  mother's  liopes  and 
prayers  and  tears.  Yes,  God  made  tlie  mother  to  be 
loved,  and  as  He  implanted  in  her  heart  an  intense 
yearning  over  her  children,  that  storge  of  which  the 
Greek  classical  writers  make  such  frequent  mention, 
so  has  he  placed  among  the  nobler  instincts  of  om* 
nature,  an  answering  iilial  aifection. 

Hence,  it  follow^s,  thirdly,  that  there  is  a  peculiar 

GRIEF     OCCASIONED    BY    A   MOTIIEr's     DEATH.         ]^0     tWO 

afflictions  are  precisely  ahke,  for  they  assail  different 
interests  and  different  classes  of  affections.  The 
grief  occasioned  by  tl^e  loss  of  property  or  the  defeat 
of  an  important  enterprise,  is  not  the  same  as  that 
which  results  from  the  death  of  a  relative  or  friend. 
And  so  the  death  of  an  infant  is  felt  in  another 
manner  from  that  of  an  adult  son  or  daughter,  while 
we  mourn  the  loss  of  a  husband  or  w^ife  as  we  do  not 
that  of  a  child.  As  peculiar  links  bind  us  to  each 
class  of  relatives,  so  our  sorrow  at  their  death  assumes 
varied  tyj)es.  Where  a  beloved  mother  is  removed 
by  death,  the  heart  is  wounded  in  a  part  of  exquisite 
tenderness.  Our  grief  is  at  once  deep  and  gentle. 
We  feel  that  a  thousand  little  tendrils  of  affection 
that  fastened  upon  om*  mother,  have  been  suddenly 
and  rudely  torn  asunder.  We  seem  to  bleed  as  from 
a  multitude  of  wounds.  With  the  love  wdiich  we 
cherish   for  a  father  is   mingled  much  of  that  awe, 


THE   DEATH    OF   A   MOTHER.  13 

reverence  and  snbniission,  whicli  create  something  of 
distance ;  but  tlie  mother  lies  in  the  closest  proximity 
to  tlie  heart,  and  when  she  is  taken,  we  feel  specially 
deserted  and  sorrowful.  This  is  the  view  of  the 
Psalmist  in  the  text,  who  uses  the  grief  felt  at  the 
death  of  a  mother,  as  a  strong  and  somewhat  hyper- 
bolical illustration  of  the  sorrow  which  he  had 
benevolently  exhibited  for  the  calamities  of  those 
w^ho  had  subsequently  repaid  him  with  the  grossest 
malignity.  ''But  a^  for  me,  when  they  were  sick, 
my  clothing  was  sackcloth.  I  humbled  my  soul  with 
fasting,  and  my  prayer  returned  into  my  own  bosom. 
I  behaved  myself  as  though  it  (he)  had  been  my 
friend  or  brother ;  I  bowed  down  heavily  as  one  that 
mourneth  for  his  mother." 

When  a  mother  is  removed,  it  seems  as  though  we 
buried  wdth  her  no  small  j)ortion  of  our  ow^n,  and  of 
the  family  life.  Who  so  Avell  acquainted  as  she,  with 
the  numberless  little  interesting  particulars  of  our 
childhood  ?  Who  else  can  tell  us  all  we  wish  to  know 
of  the  early  days  of  our  brothers  and  sisters  ?  Who 
but  she  can  describe  what  our  father  was  in  his 
youthful  days,  and  during  his  first  labors  and  trials  ? 
Her  memory  was  the  family  record,  and  she  the 
historian  whom  all  loved  to  consult.  And  now  she  is 
gone,  we  have  parted,  as  it  w^ere,  with  whole  years  of 
life.      There  is  no  one  left  w^ith  whom  to  o-o  lovino^ly 


14  THE    DEATH    OF    A    MOTHER. 


over  tlie  past,  searcliing  out  the  forgotten  incidents, 
and  renewing  former  experience.  Xo ;  henceforward 
we  consign  it  all  to  oblivion. 

And  then  how  poor  we  feel,  when  sensible  that  we 
are  no  longer  the  objects  of  the  pecidiar  love  of  a 
MOTHER.  Ah !  now  we  begin  to  prize  a  mother's 
afiection,  a  mother's  prayers,  counsels,  and  tears  I 
AVe  rise  above  the  gross  materialism  of  our  daily 
pursuits,  and  bethink  us,  that  love  is  of  more  value 
than  o:old  ;  and  that  it  were  better  to  have  the  wealth 
of  a  mother's  pure,  generous,  disinterested  affection, 
than  to  possess  all  the  treasures  of  California.  We 
contrast  her  undvinor  reo:ard  with  the  iiimsv  friend- 
ships  of  ordinary  associates,  and  realize  that  it  is  a  sad 
thing  to  be  left  in  this  cold  world  without  a  mother's 
heart  to  feel  for  us. 

And  then  comes  the  crowning  element  of  wo,  that 
a  MOTHER  can  never  be  replaced,  that  we  have  met 
vdih  a  loss  which  can  never  be  made  good.  When 
parents  part  with  a  child,  though  the  pang  be  severe, 
"there  is  the  knowledore  that  other  children  remain  to 
cheer  their  home,  or  that  God  may  send  a  like 
precious  gift  in  its  place.  When  the  young  man  parts 
from  his  chosen  companion,  and  with  mitold  anguish 
lays  the  precious  body  in  the  tomb,  though  he  seems 
to  bury  the  hopes  of  life,  we  know  that  time  will 
assuage  grief,  and  that   another  gentle  soul,  frill  of 


THE    DEATH    OF   A    irOTIIEK.  15 

syiiipatliy  and  love,  may  become  one  with  liis  own, 
and  be  to  him  all  that  is  implied  in  the  precious  name 
of  wife.  But  we  can  have  only  one  mother.  The 
tie  is  a  blood  tie,  peculiar  and  alone.  We  can  be 
born  into  the  w^orld  but  once,  and  of  all  the  loving 
hearts  of  womankind  that  throng  the  earth,  but  one 
can  know  and  feel  that  we  are  her  offspring.  Hence 
we  grieve  with  special  sorrow,  when  Death  snatches 
away  what  earthly  life  can  never  replace.  We  say  to 
ourselves,  again  and  again,  as  we  strive  to  realize  the 
sad  event,  "  Can  it  be  that  we  have  no  mother  ?  that 
that  sacred  word  can  never  be  addressed  again  to  one 
who  shall  sustain  the  endeared  relati<Hi?  that  here- 
after we  are  to  look  back  to  the  enjoyment  of  maternal 
love,  as  to  a  past  blessing  ?"  Even  the  child,  with 
the  mere  half-knowledge  of  boyhood,  or  girlhood,  has 
an  intuitive  sense  of  a  great  and  irreparable  loss,  when 
a  mother  is  taken  away.  How  touchingiy  CoTv^^er 
adverts  to  such  grief : 

"  My  Mother!  wlien  I  learned  that  thou  wast  dead, 
Say,  wast  thou  conscious  of  the  teare  I  shed  ? 
Hovered  thy  spirit  o'er  thy  sorrowing  son, 
Wretch  even  then,  life's  journey  just  begun  ? 
Perhaps  thou  gav'st  me,  though  unfelt,  a  kiss  ; 
Perhaps  a  tear,  if  souls  can  weep  in  bliss." 

There  may,  indeed,  be  for  a  young  child  the  out- 
ward attention  from  another  which  his  mother  would 


16  THE    DEATH    OF    A   MOTHEK. 

give — all  that  the  word  duty  implies  may  be  faithfully 
done  for  him ;  but  the  gush  and  yearning  of  a  mother's 
heart,  that  may  not  be  had,  for  it  cannot  be  the 
creature  of  volition ;  it  must  have  for  its  som-ce  the 
consciousness  that  the  very  life  of  the  child  is  de- 
rived from  its  own.  And,  therefore,  when  we  bury 
our  MOTHER,  and  especially  when  we  do  it  in  our  adult 
years,  we  do  it  with  a  special  burden  of  sorrow,  and 
the  spot  where  she  is  laid  becomes  sacred  above  all 
other  ground. 

Perhaps  you  have  wondered,  my  dear  people,  that 
I  should  have  selected  such  a  subject  as  this,  as  a 
theme  of  discourse  to-day.  I  have  done  so,  guided  l)y 
the  safe  principle  that  the  pen  should  follow  the 
heart,  and  that  the  preacher  will  best  interest  his 
people,  by  allowing  the  overflow  of  his  soul  to  stream 
through  his  lips.  Sudden  tidings  of  the  almost  in- 
stant death  of  my  beloved  mother,'^'  reached  me  on 
Monday  last,  and  the  thoughts  of  the  week  have 
naturally  shaped  themselves  into  this  sermon.  You 
were  strangers  to  her  person  and  her  worth,  and  it 
w^ere,  therefore,  inappropriate  for  me  to  dwell,  in  your 
presence,  upon  the  features  of  her  life.  "  The  heart 
knoweth  its  own  bitterness,"  and  I  shall  parade 
neither  the  fact  nor  the  reason  of  my  filial  grief  before 

"^  Mrs.  Mary  Weston  Patton,  wife  of  Kev,  William  Patton,  D,  D.,  of 
New  York  city,  who  died  at  Stonington,  Ct.,  July  25,  IBS'?. 


THE    DEATH    OF    A    MOTHEK.  17 

the  public.  Suffice  it,  that  she  was  my  mother,  the 
faithful,  loving  wife  of  my  father,  the  parent  of  all  his 
children,  the  partner,  from  the  beginning,  of  his  labors, 
the  sharer  of  his  successes,  the  comfoi-ter  of  his 
sorrows  ;  that  she  w^as,  from  an  early  period  of  her 
life,  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ,  at  first  taking  a  stand 
as  such  alone  in  her  immediate  circle,  and  never 
ceasing  from  her  love  of  the  Savior  and  of  his  people, 
till  she  was  called  to  the  prepared  mansion ;  and  that 
my  own  earliest  associations  and  memories  are  con- 
nected wdth  the  instructions  of  her  who  taught  me  my 
very  letters  from  the  Bible,  and  w^lio  has  followed 
ine  through  life,  with  the  love  which  a  mother 
bears  her  eldest,  living  son.  Often  she  j^ieaded 
with  me  for  Christ,  in  the  days  of  my  sin,  and  it  was 
with  the  joy  of  one  who  has  brought  her  son  to  a 
second  birth,  that  she  hailed  my  conversion.  And 
to-day  do  I  seem-  to  see  the  tears  of  holy  joy,  wiiich 
gathered  in  her  eye  and  trickled  down  her  cheek, 
when  first,  as  a  licensed  candidate  for  the  ministry,  I 
stood  up,  in  my  father's  pulpit,  to  preach  the  gospel 
of  the  Son  of  God.  Subsequently  she  became  (within 
a  few  years),  a  member  of  the  church  to  which  I 
ministered  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  with  mingled 
Christian  and  maternal  pleasure,  heard  the  Truth 
from  the  lips  of  her  son,  and  received  the  emblems  of 
Jesus'  death  from  his  hands.     It  was  not  my  privilege 


18  THE    DEATH    OF    A    MOTHER. 

to  see  her  in  cleatli,  nor  to  lay  lier  remains  in  the 
bosom  of  God's  earth — the  act  by  which  I  turned 
my  back  on  my  former  home  to  come  and  serve 
the  Master  here,  took  me  forever,  in  this  workl, 
from  the  sight  of  that  dear  face.  But  I  believe  in 
God  ;  I  have  confidence  in  Jesus  Christ  ;  I  have  faith 
in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  ;  I  know  there  is  a 
heaven.  I  shall  again  see  my  mother,  washed  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  purified  forever  from  sin,  and 
clothed  eventually  with  an  immortal  body,  "like  to 
that  glorious  body"  in  which  her  Savior  represents 
redeemed  humanity  in  the  upper  world ;  and  the 
meeting  that  shall  then  take  place  shall  be  eternal ! 

Witli  this  brief  reference  to  the  occasion  of  such  a 
discourse,  I  pass,  in  conclusion,  to  a  few  ]3ractical 
remarks,  which  grow  out  of  the  subject : 

1.  Let  me  urge  those  w^ho  have  a  mother  still 
living,  to  give  her  their  highest  respect  and  affection. 
You  will  never  regret,  at  a  future  day,  that  you 
did  so.  Filial  love  assumes  new  beauty  as  years  roll 
away  and  we  look  back  upon  it  from  the  decline  of 
life.  Young  men,  as  they  advance  out  of  boyhood, 
often  cherish  or  yield  to  a  miserable,  false  shame  of 
being  subject  to  a  mother's  control.  They  ridicule 
those  who  strive  to  please  a  pious  mother,  and  think 
it  shows  a  manly  spirit  to  go  contrary  to  her  counsels 
and  entreaties. 


THE    DEATH    OF    A    MOTHER.  11) 


*'  One  angel  lyinister  is  sent 
To  guard  and  guide  us  to  the  sky, 
And  still  her  sheltering  wing  is  bent, 
Till  manhood  rudely  throws  it  by. 
Oh,  then  with  mad  disdain  we  spurn 
A  mother's  gentle  teaching ;  throw 
Her.  bosom  from  us,  and  we  burn 
To  rush  in  freedom,  where  the  glow 
Of  pleasure  lights  the  dancing  wave  — 
We  launch  the  bark  we  woo  the  gale. 
And  reckless  of  the  darkling  grave 
That  yawns  below,  Ave  speed  the  sail!" 

My  joiiHg  friends,  believe  me  when  I  say,  that  such 
conduct  is  unworthy  of  a  son,  and  will  at  a  future  day 
toi-ture  your  soul  with  cruel  remorse.  When  that 
dear  mother  lies  cold  in  death,  and  you  would  give  all 
this  world's  wealth  to  recall  her  to  life,  then  will  you 
remember  her  kindness  and  your  disobedience,  and 
every  act  of  waywardness  will  be  a  dagger  to  your 
heart.  Be  kind  to  her  now,  and  when  she  is  called 
away,  memory  will  pour  balm  into  your  wounded 
soul.  "  Despise  not  thy  mother  when  she  is  old," 
said  the  wise  man.  I^o,  rather  let  every  added  day 
of  her  life  make  her  dearer  to  your  heart.  You  will 
never  have  any  one  else  to  love  you  with  an  affec- 
don  so  pure  and  so  lasting.  Blessed  are  they  who 
3an  have  a  mother's  voice  and  smile  to  cheer  them  far 
on  in  their   pilgrimage !     Then  amid  earth's  darkest 


20  THE    DEATH    OF    A    MOTHEK. 


disappointments,  tliej  can  say  with  one  of  England's 
sweetest  and  saddest  female  poets : 

"Ah,  blessed  are  they,  for  whom  'mid  all  their  pains, 
That  faithful  and  unaltered  love  remains ; 
Who,  life  wrecked  round  them,  hunted  from  their  rest, 
And  by  all  else  forsaken  or  distressed, 
Claim  in  one  heart,  their  sanctuary  and  shrine, 
As  I,  my  mother,  claimed  my  place  in  thine." 

2.  Let.  me  nrge  tliose  w^liose  mothers  have  departed, 
to  cherish  their  memory  with  special  care.  Let  not 
the  lapse  of  time  obliterate  the  impression  of  a 
mother's  faithfulness.  Let  her  voice  he  ever  in  your 
ear,  her  example  ever  before  your  eye.  If  you  are 
tempted  to  sin,  think  of  her  counsels  and  prayers,  and 
act  as  though  her  eye  w^ere  now  upon  you.  Let  her 
memory  be  your  guardian  angel  to  shield  you  in  the 
hour  of  danger,  when  worldly  allurements  are  strong 
and  your  ivill  is  weak.  Eead  the  Bible  that  she  gave 
you,  repeat  the  prayers  that  you  learned  from  her  lips, 
beheve  on  the  Savior  in  whom  she  trusted,  and 
determine  to  wdn  that  heaven  whither  she  has  gone. 

3.  Let  me  entreat  mothers  so  to  live,  that  their 
influence  vdW  be  saving  and  their  memory  precious. 
You  w^ish  to  secure  the  perpetual  love  of  your  child- 
ren :  Oh,  see  to  it,  that  you  act  the  part  of  a  mother 
without  exception,  caring  for  the  soul  as  well  as  for 
the  body,  and  making  yourself  the  author  of  their 


THE    DEATH   OF    A    MOTHER.  21 

eternal  as  well  as  of  their  mortal  life.  How  blessed 
are  the  children  who  can  look  back  and  think  of  the 
training  which  they  received  from  a  pious  mother ! 
How  joyful  will  be  their  reunion  with  her  in  the 
heavenly  w^orld  !  What  more  honorable  mention  can 
be  made  of  i^arents  after  their  death,  than  to  declare 
that  they  were  disciples  of  Jesus  on  earth,  and  are 
now  numbered  among  the  redeemed  in  heaven  ?  How 
truly  noble  w^as  the  tribute  which,  in  a  land  where 
men  pride  themselves  upon  the  rank  of  their  parents 
and  ancestors,  Cowper  paid  to  his  father  and  mother, 
Avlien  he  said : 

''My  boast  is  not,  that  I  deduce  my  birth 
From  loins  enthroned,  and  rulers  of  the  earth  ; 
But  higher,  far,  my  proud  pretensions  rise  — 
The  son  of  parents  passed  into  the  skies." 

My  hearers,  who  sustain  the  relation  of  a  mother, 
rest  not  till  you  are  sure  of  an  interest  in  Christ  for 
yourselves  and  for  your  children.  Consecrate  your 
own  souls  to  the  Savior,  and  avail  yourselves  of  all 
appropriate  means  to  sanctify  your  offspring.  Pre- 
cede their  very  birth  with  wrestling  supplications  ; 
offer  them  to  God  in  early  baptism ;  make  them  the 
subjects  of  daily  secret  prayer ;  pray  frequently  with 
them ;  meet  with  the  other  mothers  of  the  congrega- 
tion for  consultation  and  for  petition  at  the  throne  of 
grace;    carefully  instruct  them  from  the  Scriptures; 


22  THE    DEATH    OF    A   MOTHER. 


live  religion  before  tlieni  in  all  its  beauty,  and  strive 
by  every  word  and  act  to  deepen  the  impression 
npon  their  minds,  that  your  supreme  desire  in  their 
behalf  is,  that  they  should  be  holy.  Then  will  your 
prayers  be  heard  and  your  labors  be  crowned  with 
success.  Your  children  will  "  arise  np  and  call  you 
blessed,"  for  your  memory  will  be  associated  not  only 
with  the  pleasant  things  of  earth,  bnt  Avith  all  their 
hopes  of  life  eternal.  And  though  at  your  death 
they  will  "bow  down  heavily,"  as  must  all  who 
"mourn  for  a  mother,"  yet  will  their  sorrow  be 
mingled  with  the  joy  which   anticipates   an   eternal 


reunion. 


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